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Sunday, November 25, 2007

Glossary

Modulation: State of actitivy within an individual. This refers to movement, communicative expression and emotional expression.

Sensory modulation: the "capacity to regulate and organize the degree, intensity, and nature of responses to sensory input in a graded and adaptive manner" (Miller & lane, 2000, p3.).

Overactive / hyperactive: be in an excited state motorically or emotionally. For example, rarely stand still, alwasy on the move. This is often combined with emotional activity.

Underactive / hypoactive: be in a low state of arousal with slowed movements. This is often accompanied by an emotional state of low affect.

Overreactive: over-respond to input sensory stimuli. Some examples: scream when a door is slammed, not tolerate elastic or tags in clothing, cover eyes in the presence of bright light.

Underreative: ignore stimuli to one's sensory system. Some examples: not react to painful bumps and bruises or to questions or to noxious smells.

Definitions of Autism, ADHD, etc.These are formally defined by the DSM IV, and I will paraphrase the criteria. However, OT literature has added a wealth of information about sensory processing & modulation for persons with autism that is not yet covered by the DSM, and so I will add that material. ADHD is added to this list because 1) a number of children with autism also are diagnosed with ADHD and 2) it is interesting to see the differences between ADHD (with autism) and autism (without ADHD).